A Columbia teenager has been arrested and charged with stabbing a man to death on a borough street earlier this month.

Joshua D. Flores, of the 600 block of Avenue G, was charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and tampering with evidence. Columbia Borough police arrested Flores Sunday night.

Flores, 17, is accused of stabbing Anthony Stoy-Velazquez to death in the 200 block of Linden Street in Columbia Borough during the early morning hours of July 8. Numerous tips from multiple sources identified Flores as the assailant. 

“Columbia Borough police and the Lancaster County Detectives should be commended for their thorough investigation,” said Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams. “While we understand it can be unsettling for the public to not know all of the details when it comes to a crime like this, some elements of policework must be kept in confidence so that subjects don’t learn of the progress and nature of investigations. In this case, an arrest warrant was obtained last week but kept sealed by the order of the court until the subject was safely in custody.”

One eyewitness told police that the 26-year-old Stoy-Velazquez had approached Flores and began yelling at him around 12:30 a.m. Flores then stabbed Stoy-Velazquez when the confrontation turned physical, the eyewitness said. 

Surveillance footage from multiple businesses and residences in the area purports to depict Flores and Stoy-Velazquez confronting one another before Flores stabs him and then runs away.

Another witness told police that Flores disposed of his cellphone after the murder.

Police found Stoy-Velazquez face-down in the street and unresponsive with a single stab wound to his chest. Stoy-Velazquez was declared dead at the scene after life-saving measures were unsuccessful.

In the days after the murder Flores is alleged to have sent texts stating his desire of “going on the run” and that he was “scared” and needed to avoid being seen. A witness later told police that Flores said he had been the one who stabbed Stoy-Velazquez.

Flores remains in the Lancaster County Youth Intervention Center.

Columbia Borough Police Det. Matthew Leddy filed the charges.

Assistant District Attorneys Mark Fetterman will prosecute the case. 

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.